An experimental assessment on the performance of fixed rail lubricators for curve squealing noise mitigation

作者：Alarcao D^*; Bento Coelho J L

来源：Noise Control Engineering Journal, 2013, 61(6): 567-577.

DOI：10.3397/1/3761050

Curve squealing occasionally arises when railway vehicles run through tight curves at low speeds. The phenomenon is characterized by a high intensity sound emission, having a characteristic frequency spectrum, that can show particular components, and which lasts some seconds. This type of sound can be highly annoying and complaints from nearby residents are common. Lubrication on sharp curves has been adopted to control friction at the wheel-rail interface that influences sound generation, corrugations and lateral forces. An experimental investigation on the performance of rail lubricants for curve squealing noise reduction was carried out. Lubricants were applied on the running surface of the railhead through fixed rail mounted lubricators on a curve of a suburban railway line where complaints from residents had been registered. The assessment of the lubrication performance was conducted by analyzing the pass-by sound exposure levels of different passages of six different types of railway vehicles running on the curve. Acoustic measurements were made without and with lubrication, under the same dynamical and meteorological conditions. The results show that the use of rail lubrication considerably reduces the frequency of curve squealing occurrence in all cases, though its performance depends on the particular type of rolling stock. Reductions of 3 to 10 dB A-weighted sound exposure levels were recorded when the lubricators were in operation, with an average reduction across the different rolling stock types of around 7 dB. In extreme cases, reductions of up to approximately 15 dB could be observed. The curve squealing noise spectra show a broadband characteristic (from 630 Hz to 12.5 kHz) so that mainly flange rubbing noise occurred. However, for some passages, squeal noise originated from lateral slip and longitudinal stick-slip mechanisms of the wheels was also recorded. This later wheel squeal noise shows marked components in the 1/3 octave frequency bands centered at 630 Hz and 3.15, 4 and 6.3 kHz.

• 出版日期2013-11